Our Secret Hiding Spot

Kris sat in the comfy chair in the lobby of Evan's office. He had a meeting with him to discuss his future, and Kris had arrived early. He sipped on his cup of Starbucks while looking at the receptionist, who kept sneaking glances at Kris, obviously a fan of the defenseman.

"Okay, Mr. Letang, Evan is ready for you," she spoke quietly, and Kris stood up, flashing her a smile as he passed her.

"Thanks, Penny," he told her, and she practically fainted. Kris chuckled as he made his way down the hallway, but his expression changed when he walked into Evan's office, knowing that he was about to have a serious conversation with his agent.

"Kris, how you doing?" Evan asked, standing up and giving Kris a hearty handshake before motioning for Kris to take a seat in the seat across from him.

"Good," Kris nodded his head. "And you?"

"I'll be better if you tell me you made a decision as far as what team you want to go to," Evan said straightforward. Kris knew he didn't want to beat around the bush.

Kris ran a hand through his hair. He had made the decision last night. He was going to Philadelphia. It made the most sense. He would still be in the same state as Quinn, and it would make it easier for them to travel back and forth to see each other. Plus, he could still live in Pittsburgh with her in the offseason.

"What'll it be?" Evan asked when Kris didn't answer right away.

Kris inhaled deeply. "Philadelphia," he stated, and a grin spread across Evan's face.

"Good choice, bud," Evan told him. "I think that is a great choice for you. I know it was hard on you to decide to be away from your fiancée, but it's good for your career," he told him. Kris had forgotten that Evan didn't know that he and Quinn had gotten married, and he didn't feel like correcting his agent on the matter right now.

"Yeah," Kris muttered, needing to remind himself that he and Quinn had promised to make it work no matter where he went. He couldn't imagine finding a more perfect woman. Most of the girls he had dated in the past would have killed him if they thought he was going to be away from them for half the year. But, Quinn understood. And, while she wasn't thrilled with the idea, she wasn't going to stand in the way of his career.

"Let's do it right now!" Evan said happily. Obviously, he was thrilled with Kris's choice of teams, even though Kris couldn't muster up the same excitement right now. Evan reached for the phone, just as it started to ring. "Maybe that's them right now," he laughed. The Flyers had been calling Evan a lot, trying to figure out what it was going to take to get Kris.

Kris listened to Evan's side of the phone call. "Oh, really?" he heard Evan say, and Kris wondered who it was. Evan kept his eyes on Kris the whole time, so it seemed to be whoever was on the phone was talking about Kris. "That won't work…Nope…Higher…No trade clause? No deal…What? Yeah…I'll get back to you." And with that, Evan hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Kris asked Evan.

"You picked the Flyers, right?" Evan ignored Kris's question.

"Yeah," Kris nodded his head. "Quinn and I talked about it, and they're offering the no trade clause and at least I'd be close by still," he explained why he had chosen the Flyers.

Evan looked at him for a few moments, studying Kris's face. "What if another team offered a no trade clause?" Evan asked. "Would that change your mind?"

Kris thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. He wasn't ready to move to California on the other side of the country just for a no trade clause. Philadelphia was still close enough, even if they weren't offering up as much money as some of the other teams. "No, I've made my decision," Kris told him.

"Well, then I'll just have to call Mario back and say you want to go to the Flyers," Evan shrugged his shoulders casually.

Kris's head shot up as he stared at Evan. "Mario? As in our Mario?" he questioned. Evan laughed and nodded his head. "That's who you were just on the phone with?"

"Yeah," Evan answered. "Guess it's meant to be when the Pens call right as I'm getting ready to call the Flyers and accept their offer."

Kris was still trying to wrap his head around everything. "Wait, so Mario's offering a no trade clause? But how? Why?" he asked. "I thought they refused it. What changed their minds?"

"Don't know, doesn't matter," Evan told him. "They did change the terms of the agreement, though. Two year extension. No trades. But, only two years."

Kris had wanted a longer contract so he could be at ease knowing he'd retire there. But, if the Penguins were offering him two more years with the team, two more years with Quinn, he was going to take it. "Do it," he said immediately.

"Don't you want to talk to Quinn about it first? Doesn't she wear the pants in the relationship?" Evan joked.

Kris rolled his eyes. "Make the damn call," Kris spat.

"Temper temper!" Evan teased. Kris glared at him, and he quickly stopped and picked up the phone, calling back Mario. "Send the papers over," he stated before hanging up and looking back over at Kris. "I'll read them over, and when they're ready I'll have you come back in and sign them," he said, going into serious mode.

"Merci," Kris said sincerely as he stood up and walked out of Evan's office, the weight of the world off of his shoulders for the first time in months. He pulled his phone out of his pocket before he'd even made it out of the lobby, needing to talk to Quinn and tell her the good news.

She picked up on the third ring. "Hey Kris, I'll call you back in a little bit. There's some big meeting that just got called, sorry I have to go!" she said, hanging up the phone before he was even able to tell her that he was going to be staying in Pittsburgh. Oh well, just some good news he could tell her when she got home, and then they could celebrate all night long afterwards.



Quinn was practically jogging to keep up with Mario as he walked down the hallway to the conference room, where an impromptu conference call was about to be made. She had no idea what it was about, but Mario had told her to follow him. She had just hung up with Kris, not even letting him talk, telling him she would call him back later. This meeting seemed to be more important than anything Kris had to tell her.

Quinn was out of breath as she walked into the conference room and sat her things down on the table, taking a seat next to Mario. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously, and she could swear he held a small smile on his lips, as if he was gloating that he knew some secret that she wasn't a part of. He dialed on the phone and then put it on speaker. "Ray, Dan, you there?" he asked, and Quinn furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why they were having a conference call with the team's GM and coach. She felt so out of the loop.

"Yeah, I'm here," she heard Ray say before Dan acknowledged his presence as well. "What's going on, Mario?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Quinn mumbled.

"I wanted to fill everyone in at once," Mario began, and Quinn gave him her full attention. "Now, it’s not official until we get the signature, but I've been in talks with Evan Grayson, and unofficially, Kris Letang will be returning for two more years," he announced.

Quinn's eyes widened at the news. She was speechless. Kris had gone in to talk to Evan about signing with the Flyers, and now he was staying with the Penguins? This was all incredible, and she wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Two years?" Ray asked. "That's not what we had offered him before."

Quinn looked at Mario, waiting on his response. She hadn't been a part of Kris's deal at all, so she really had no idea what they had offered him. Before Mario could answer, Dan spoke up. "Well I think it's a great deal. We can use Letang. Good defenseman and he'll play much better than bringing up some kid from Wilkes-Barre," he stated.

"No, that's not the offer from before," Mario agreed with Ray. "But, I decided to offer him something different. Two years, no trades. I think that's fair."

"Two years and no trades?" Ray questioned. "What's the point of that?" he practically barked, and Quinn had to bite her tongue not to fight for Kris. She needed to remember that she was the team owner right now, not Kris's wife.

"Because that's what it was going to take to keep him here," Mario said simply.

"I don't get why we're going to give him so much money. I mean, how much did you have to offer him?"

"Two years, eleven million," Mario answered.

Quinn remained quiet, waiting for a big argument from Ray. Five and a half million dollars a year on the salary cap. Quinn knew they were going to have to give up some people, especially if Kris agreed to the terms of the agreement. But, she also knew Kris was worth it, and he was being offered a whole lot more from other teams.

"Do you honestly think we have five and a half million dollars worth of cap for him?" Ray asked, and Quinn could just picture him gritting his teeth right now, the vein in his neck bulging from anger.

"Yes, and we'll make it work," Mario replied, the tone of his voice leaving no room for argument.

"Fine, but when it doesn't work out, and he gets hurt and we're basically out eleven million dollars, remember I was against it," Ray spoke.

"Noted," Mario said, not letting Ray's sentiments get to him. "I will let you know when it's official so we can put out a press release. The fans will be thrilled he's returning, he's a fan favorite," he reminded Ray, who didn't respond.

Mario hung up the phone a few moments later and looked at Quinn, who didn't know what to say. "How did you make it work?" she finally spoke. "I thought it was a no go?"

Mario shrugged his shoulders. "We needed him, simple as that. I wasn't ready to let him go. We just needed to change things around a little bit to make it work. Unfortunately, we weren't going to get a long contract for him. But, hopefully two years is enough to make it easier on us the next time," he chuckled.

Quinn smiled at him. "I don't even know what to say," she admitted.

"You don't have to say anything. Just make sure Kris signs that contract," he joked.

"I will," Quinn assured him as she gathered her things, getting ready to head home to talk to Kris.

She got home an hour later after having to sit in stopped traffic. She contemplated calling Kris, but she wanted to talk to him about this in person, not over the phone. She walked in the door and could smell food immediately. Kris had made her dinner. She walked into the kitchen, seeing Kris standing in front of the stove, turning the fish in the pan over. She snuck her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind.

"Ma chére," he smiled, turning around and wrapping his arms around her, leaning down and kissing her. He could tell from the smile that was permanently on her face that she had already learned of his news. "So I take it you know?" he asked her.

"You're staying," she said as she hugged him tighter.

He nodded his head. "Somehow it worked out," he kissed her again.

"One problem out of the way now," she told him.

"One problem? What other problems do we have?" he asked with a laugh.

"Uh…my family? Our August wedding? The fact that no one knows we're married now and the field day the press will have when they find that out? The aftermath of this deal you're about to sign? You know they're going to say that I had something to do with it," she laughed, already knowing the media would spin things badly instead of just looking at the positives of Kris staying with the Penguins. "Do I need to continue?" she asked him.

Kris laughed. "No, I'm now well aware how much of a mess our lives are," he told her. "But, I wouldn't trade it for the world," he said, leaning down and kissing her more deeply this time.

Quinn smiled against his lips. "You're staying," she said happily as he pulled away.

"I'm staying," he repeated, forgetting all about the dinner he was cooking and instead focused on intensifying their kiss.